Months of wonderful outdoor play beckon us and in celebration of that I've selected a range of activities from the past two link-ups for this week's Tuesday Tutorials.
Days 1 – 3 of Project 365 (2015)
Fresh Start On The Beach
A few years ago we went to Barry Island on New Year's Day and it was the most glorious day; the sun was shining on a perfect, blue-sky Winter's day. When the 1st January 2015 dawned in a similar style, it was absolutely our destination for some fresh air to blow away the previous year's cobwebs.
#47: Cook On A Camp Fire (Country Kids)
One of the must-does for our break this week to Coombe Mill in Cornwall was to visit the beach and cook on a fire. Luckily we had the wonderful Wild Family Fun with us, whose job as an outdoor activity facilitator means she's a bit of an expert at starting a fire with vaseline and cotton wool.
So while I explored the rock pools with The Boy and his cousin, Mr. TBaM and The Boy's aunty set to starting the fire up in order to boil up some hot water using the Kelly Kettle she'd brought with us. A Kelly Kettle is an ingenious system which requires a fire to be lit in the metallic base, and then the 'water-jacket' kettle is placed over the top. It ends up with a fire chamber which creates an upward chimney draft ensuring efficient and rapid boiling even in windy or wet weather. And it was very windy that day! [Read more…]
When Only The Beach Will Do
Crashing waves.
Frothing, foamy, Neptune's white horses.
Gusting winds.
Sand blowing diagonally through the air.
Squeals of laughter from a gleeful and playful family enjoying the abandoned swathes of golden sands.
All that squelchy sand is a blank canvas for running, jumping and falling over in.
And do you know where he went after he's verified how saturated and sand encrusted his gloves were?
Yep, right to 'give mummy a cuddle'.
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Linking up to Country Kids, Outdoor Play Party and Flashback Friday
Winter Sunshine
We love going to the beach at any time of the year, but it's incredibly difficult to find the enthusiasm when it is pouring down, and there's been a terrific amount of precipitation recently! However, last Sunday when the sun made an appearance and reminded us all of how wonderful the Winter sunshine truly is, we set off further down the coast with my brother and his family to explore Ogmore beach.
The main beach was packed but we actually headed around the coastline a few hundred yards to a beach which is a bit tricky to get down to and therefore has less visitors. The point about how tricky (in wet conditions) it is was made when I slipped on the muddy path walking down and ended up with a derriere covered in mud within three minutes of leaving the car!
However once we were down on the beach, the sunshine was warming and the conditions idyllic. We set out our picnic blanket and sat down on the rocks chatting and munching away on pasties and grapes while The Boy and his cousin roamed amongst the rockpools, collecting pebbles and creating some beach art.
As witnessed in many episodes of Doctor Who, this stretch of coastline has a wonderful strata in the cliffs and the beaches are crammed with rockpools galore. The perfect place to find crabs or starfish!
Ogmore beach is well known for the wonderful array of fossils in the rocks and cliff-face, and under the guidance of my sister-in-law who has been beach schools trained, we all set to the task of finding a variety of fossils. Finding what was once a fish, or a barnacle-like creature, is absolutely amazing and so rewarding; it reminds you of your place in the history of our planet.
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A Perfect Sunday Morning
Last weekend, we ventured down to the south coast of England for my sister-in-law's wedding in Highcliffe Castle. In the morning, prior to the ceremony, we decided to check out the venue and discovered that beyond the raindrops pooling into miniature lakes in the car park, was a small woodland which offered some steep steps down onto a beach. Hoping for dry weather the next day so we could further explore, we went off and did 'the wedding thing' like dutiful family.
The next morning was one of the most beautiful days of this Autumn so far; brilliant azure skies with wispy clouds, sunlight glistening on a turquoise sea, and diamonds sparkling in the golden sunlight. We raced down to the castle's car park, debated wellies and donned them in case of squelchy mud, and then headed through the woodland where we found the best climbing tree we've seen in a while.
Locating the steps down to the beach, we trotted down them and discovered an astounding view across the English Channel from the Needles to Hengistbury Head. This is when we discovered that the wellies had been a good decision.
As we walked along the water's edge towards the beach huts of Friar's Cliff, dogs raced around us picking up pebbles and balls thrown by their owners, excited to be allowed on the beaches again. The Boy hunkered down and decided to build a sandcastle, digging down with his bare hands to his uncle in Australia. He didn't get very far, mittens aren't the best tools for sandcastle making it seems.
At Friar's Cliff, the beachward drift has been haltered with groynes which are perfect for little boys to practise their balancing arms!
It was a magical hour or two, really refreshing after the excesses of the day before. We've been so intent on finding trees for climbing and collecting conkers from, that we've forgotten how magical the beach is at this time of year; the tourists have gone, leaving the locals to enjoy what's on their doorstep.
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Linking to Country Kids.
Days 237-243 of Project 365
237. Fortress (A beautiful Sunday afternoon on August Bank Holiday weekend, saw us pack up our beach stuff and venture to Barry Island for the afternoon. And for once it wasn't crowded! We decided to make the biggest castle ever, and this was our finished product; gargantuan isn't it? This is the castle I've always wanted to make and it was brilliant fun, people along the beach stopped to take photos and comment.)
238. Practise (The biggest concern that I have for The Boy going to school is coping with lunchtimes. He currently has a cooked meal at lunchtimes, but won't be having school dinners as I don't think he'll eat them. I decided it was time to practise eating from a lunchbox, as I know how chaotic it is at lunchtimes in a dinner hall with minimal staff around. We packed up our tea and took it to the nature reserve for a picnic practise. I don't want The Boy to struggle with anything so we've spent this week practising opening and not spilling food, eating things in the right order, and working out what type of yoghurt is the best to send in for him.)
239. Climbing Boy (We headed out for another picnic lunch, this time in the park. And what better way to burn off that energy afterwards that tree climbing?)
240. Squelch (We had a very exciting morning visiting somewhere special in Cardiff, but I can't disclose any information about it until later in the year and it's under embargo until then! We had lunch in Pizza Hut and I spent the whole time staring at The Boy, absorbing ever cell of his face, trying not to cry about missing him in school. Then we went down the beach for some plopping fun, although The Boy has discovered sandballs are far more fun to throw than pebbles, filthy child.)
241. RUN! (My mum was looking after my niece and nephew for the day, so we took all three children to Barry Island, somewhere they don't go very often. Reluctantly at first The Boy's cousins entered the water, then his Boy Cousin came back out to remove his trousers so he could paddle more freely, while Girl Cousin just sat down in the sea fully clothed instead. All three had a whale of a time; all you need is sand and water, and they're happy!)
242. Ritual (Today was the last day of our old routine. Our last day together, just me and him, without being stuck in the rigmorale of bowing down to the constraints of school holidays. Our last day of him being my little shadow and us having the freedom to not rush and just do what we want. Just typing that makes me cry. I know we'll have half-terms and school holidays, but it is not the same. Every day for four years and two months, he has waited on our bed (sometimes with or without Mr. TBaM, depending upon age) while I shower and get dressed. Then Mr. TBaM goes to work and we have cuddles in bed for half an hour. Every week day (that I've not worked) for four years and two months. This was our last day doing this. And I am counting down the days until October half-term until we can do it again.)
243. ARGGGGHHHHH! (We took The Boy to Peppa Pig World for our last Summer treat and had a brilliant time exploring old favourite rides and new treasures. This was an old favourite and I took about fifteen photos of them on this ride, from top to bottom. I can't show later ones as Mr. TBaM would divorce me, but this was right at the top, just as they both realise how steep the drop is!)
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